8 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Recent excavations at Girsu uncovered innovative civilization-saving technology of Ancient Sumerians

In ancient city Girsu, located near the modern city of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq, revealed through a recent excavation by the British Museum, that ancient Sumerians invented a “civilization-saving” water channel 4,000 years ago.

A recent dig at Girsu revealed “a mysterious structure,” which in the 1920s was interpreted as an unusually shaped temple. However, members of the museum’s Girsu Project have discovered the true function of a mysterious structure created by the civilization.

The team describe the ancient lifesaving device as a “flume” that was used to deliver water to distant locations for agriculture.

A way of life threatened by vital canals drying up seems to have led the Sumerians, who were the first to tell early versions of the biblical story of the flood, to create this “anti-drought machine.”

Ebru Torun, an architect and conservationist working with the British Museum team in Iraq, said: “This is absolutely one of a kind. There is no other example of it in history, really, until the present day.”

Torun said that what is most surprising about the find is that until now archaeologists thought such technologies didn’t appear until the 18th century AD.

Aerial view of the structure in the ancient city of Girsu (modern Tello). Photo: British Museum
Aerial view of the structure in the ancient city of Girsu (modern Tello). Photo: British Museum

In a Telegraph article, Dr. Sébastien Rey, an archaeologist and the project’s leader in Iraq, explained that the people “saw the canals drying up, silting up, one by one.” He added that “It is not just a bridge, it’s an anti-drought machine, anti-collapse.” Furthermore, all of the inscribed stone tablets speak of “a water crisis, and one last desperate attempt to save themselves,” added Rey.

Their civilization revolved around water and relied on advanced irrigation, which directed water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers into canals that watered fields, providing the food required to sustain urban life. It was part of an order maintained by gods, who in turn were maintained by sacrifice and libations, but when the gods abandoned Girsu, the Sumerians were forced to effect their own salvation.

Channel is formed of two symmetrical mud-brick structures about 130 feet long, 33 feet wide, and with 11-foot-high walls arranged in two opposing curves bending outwards.

On the British Museum’s Girsu Project, a team of scientists flew drones around the village of Nasr and discovered the “life-saving machine” was located on a 19-kilometer (12-mile) long canal. Because the device spans a body of water, it has been dubbed “the world’s oldest known bridge.”

A digital reconstruction of the flume, which once straddled a 12-mile canal. Photo: The Girsu Project/ British Museum
A digital reconstruction of the flume, which once straddled a 12-mile canal. Photo: The Girsu Project/ British Museum

Up until now, the Jisr al-Hajar Hajirah, also known as the Caravan Bridge, located in the ancient city of Edessa, or modern-day Urfa, in Türkiye has been recognized as the oldest bridge in the world. It was constructed sometime around 850 BC.

The latest research has now revealed that the structure that channeled a 100-foot-wide canal into a 13-foot-wide passage would have created a feature known as the “Venturi” effect, something that would not be theorized by scientists until the late 18th century. It refers to the increase in velocity of liquids as they pass through a constricted “throat”, and can be put into practice with structures known as “Venturi flumes”.

It is believed the structure was built by the final generations living in Girsu in a last attempt to save their home from becoming unlivable.

British Museum

Related Articles

Farmer was Discovers 2600-year-old Stone Slab of Pharaoh Apries

19 June 2021

19 June 2021

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced that a farmer in Ismailia, Egypt, uncovered a 2,600-year-old stone monument erected by Pharaoh...

Archaeological excavations unearthed the first great Iberian city in Contestania and the oldest one

11 May 2024

11 May 2024

Archaeologists from the University of Alicante and the University of Murcia “Damas y Héroes. In the project “Tras la Ilici...

Mystery of Knaresborough Roman hoard revealed by Newcastle experts

13 January 2024

13 January 2024

Archaeologists at Newcastle University have investigated one of the most unusual late-Roman metalware ever discovered in the British Isles. Although...

A Roman statue of the sea god Triton discovered near A2, London Road

13 September 2023

13 September 2023

Archaeologists have uncovered a Roman Statue of Triton during excavations in preparation for a housing development in Kent, England. Archaeologists...

The Entire Genome Of 35,000-Year-Old Skull From Romania Sequenced “Peştera Muierii 1”

24 May 2021

24 May 2021

Researchers have successfully sequenced the whole genome from the skull of Peştera Muierii 1, women who lived in today’s Romania...

New documentary searches history of Turkey’s 7,000-year-old Arslantepe Mound

28 December 2021

28 December 2021

The tale of Turkey’s fascinating 7,000-year-old Arslantepe Mound, an ancient building in Malatya, eastern Turkey that was just added to...

Remains of a Roman stylobate found in Montenegro

19 July 2023

19 July 2023

In ancient Rhizon (Risan) in Montenegro, remains of a Roman stylobate (a shared base for multiple columns) were uncovered. In...

The Highest Prehistoric Petroglyphs in Europe Discovered at 3000 Meters in the Italian Alps

20 November 2024

20 November 2024

The highest petroglyphs in Europe were found at Pizzo Tresero (Valfurva) in the Stelvio National Park in the northern Italian...

Teacher unearthed stone with ancient ogham writing from Ireland in Coventry garden

9 May 2024

9 May 2024

A geography teacher, Graham Senior, stumbled across a rock with mysterious incisions while tidying his overgrown garden in Coventry, England. ...

Karahantepe; It will radically change the way we look at the Neolithic Age

1 June 2022

1 June 2022

Findings on settled village life in the ongoing excavations in Karahantepe will profoundly change our knowledge of the Neolithic Age....

Archaeologists discover rare Caanite inscription on ancient ivory comb

12 November 2022

12 November 2022

Israeli archaeologists discovered a rare inscription on an ivory comb that sheds new light on the Canaanite language’s use some...

Germany: 700-year-old Causeway Found Under Central Berlin Street

19 February 2022

19 February 2022

Archaeologists from the Landesdenkmalamt Berlin (LDA) made a sensational find during their excavation at Molkenmarkt: about 2.50 m below Stralauer...

The Most Important Works of Achaemenid Persian Metalwork “Oxus Treasure”

21 May 2021

21 May 2021

The Oxus Treasure is a collection of 180 precious metal objects unearthed on the north bank of the Oxus River...

A 2900-year-old collection of fossilized shark teeth found in the City of David, one of Jerusalem’s oldest Parts

5 July 2021

5 July 2021

Scientists discovered an inexplicable collection of fossilized shark teeth at a 2900-year-old archaeological site in Jerusalem’s City of David, one...

New research reveals that Baltic amber was transported to the most westerly region of the continent more than 5,000 years ago

21 October 2023

21 October 2023

A team of scientists has identified the oldest pieces of Baltic amber ever found on the Iberian Peninsula, revealing that...